The development is the latest in the diplomatic row between the two nations after President Mohamed Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, came to power in November last year in the Maldives.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic row, the Maldives’ government has formally requested New Delhi to provide “comprehensive details” of an incident in which Indian Coast Guard personnel allegedly boarded three Maldivian fishing vessels operating within its economic zone without consultation.
The Maldives defense ministry, in a statement Friday night, claimed that its military was informed on January 31 that personnel from a foreign military had boarded a Maldives fishing vessel, and on reaching the location it was found that they were from the Indian coast guard. The Maldives military also found that Indian coast guard personnel had boarded two more boats, the statement said without explaining what they did on the boats, it said.
The statement said that boarding teams from Indian Coast Guard Ship 246 and Indian Coast Guard Ship 253 were responsible for interrogating the fishing boats.
“On Feb. 1, 2024 , the foreign ministry of the Maldives has asked (India) officially for the details of the operation that was carried out while Maldivians were fishing in the Maldivian exclusive economic zone, without any coordination with the relevant authorities and against all international laws,” the statement said in the native Dhivehi language.
“Consequently, the Maldivian government has initiated an official request through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seeking comprehensive details of the incident from the Indian government,” it added.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate response from the Indian government to the Maldivian allegations.
The development is the latest in the diplomatic row between the two nations after President Mohamed Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, came to power in November last year in the Maldives.
Earlier on Friday, in the second meeting of the high-level core group between Indian and Maldivian officials in New Delhi, it was decided that India will withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives between March and May, but will continue to operate the two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft in the island nation with the help of Indian civilian replacements and Maldivian defence personnel.
The Maldives Foreign Ministry statement said “both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms by 10 March 2024, and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by 10 May 2024”.
However, the Ministry of External Affairs did not spell out any timeline in its statement, but said both sides “agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms” that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives.
Around 80 Indian military personnel are stationed in the Maldives to operate these platforms. On January 14, after the first meeting of the core group, the Maldives government had set a March 15 deadline for India to withdraw its military personnel from the country.
Muizzu, 45, defeated India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the presidential runoff held in September last year. His government has been entangled in a diplomatic row with India after derogatory social media posts by three of his ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
